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4/8/12

Easter Blasphemy

I thought I'd indulge in some Easter blasphemy ...

Blasphemous thought: do Christians really believe today the son of God was resurrected and saved all believers from their sins? If they really took that seriously, would they honor the occasion by focusing on a giant bunny who brings candy to children?

... but then I read Nicholas Kristof ("God Makes a Comeback"), and I think I'm pretty much in that camp--the camp (including Alain deBotton, Jonathan Haidt, and E. O. Wilson) that says we should recognize the often positive functional significance of religion, and not harp endlessly on the (er) problematic truth values. Religion knits people together into cohesive groups that at least often do better together. The Easter bunny business makes me think quite possibly even true believers aren't actually that focused on the serious literally content of religion. "It's the cohesion, stupid!", to mangle a wise political slogan.

3 comments:

I imagine that "often" just won't cut it for some people (Jews, Armenians, Rwandans, gays, females…).

But I agree, the same old attacks on religion are boring and maybe they distract us from thinking about our spiritual ideas in the present tense. … Is there any religious system that promulgates critical thinking about experience while still driving for "Cohesion?".

Religion knits people together into cohesive groups that at least often do better together.Shrug. Only at the cost of the "other". You'd realize this if you had stayed in a country which had an active religious conflict.